I'd rather be having a quiet drink... and can be followed on Twitter @alcothusiast; and friended on Untappd (handle: "neilcake" - all welcome).

Thursday, 22 May 2014

Irish Cream Three-Way: Carolan's vs Bailey's vs Ballycastle Premium

For many people,
Irish Cream is a staple requirement around Christmas time. That’s why the main
supermarkets start a bit of a price war, one that this year led to Baileys
being available in Asda for £9. Yes, that’s more than you’d pay for Aldi’s
Ballycastle Premium, but as I keep saying, Baileys is the undisputed king, and
that’s a pretty good discount (about £5).

For me, Irish Cream
is a staple all the time, though
particularly in my coffee of a Sunday morning. I’ve been trying other brands,
but I’d actually started to think I might never get around to buying a bottle
of actual Baileys again, you see it’s
hard to justify the usual price tag when the Ballycastle Premium is so damn
good. At £9 though, I’d be letting you down if I didn’t give it a shot –
especially since all the Carolan’s would soon be gone so, not only did I need a
new bottle, but if there was ever going to be a chance to compare two premium
Irish Cream brands, this was going to be it.

don't know why I can't rotate this...

Asda actually had a
choice of Baileys flavours on offer, but I haven’t gotten around to those yet.
It’s the Original I’m interested in at this point. Mrs Cake agreed to join me
in a comparative tasting later that afternoon.

Statistics first
though; I paid an outrageous £14.50 for the Carolan’s, which equates to £1 per
percent of ABV. The Baileys, which is usually pricey, as I said was £9, but
here you’re getting a cockle-warming 17%.

In terms of
packaging, they are not dissimilar, though Baileys seem to have streamlined
their bottle a little, which I actually prefer to the standard Irish Cream
receptacle. Baileys has some fun text on the back that says something along the
lines of… we like cream and we like
spirits. But both together, they said? We just smiled…

So, one comparative
tasting with the missus coming up…

Method

The main use we have
for Irish Cream is over ice, so that
would be where the winner would be decided. I would also try the Baileys in
coffee, but that would be just additional to the main experiment. I poured a
glass of each product for Mrs Cake and I and repaired to the living room to
watch a bit of telly and draw some conclusions.

Visuals

I couldn't tell any
difference. Both look creamy and good, neither show the kind of wateriness you
might expect from cheaper brands. Neither are cheap, so all is as it should be.
Mrs Cake called them out by sight, but I forgot to ask her what gave it away.

Tasting

I don’t drink Irish
Cream in the same way I drink spirits so nosing doesn’t really come into it. I
started with a couple of sips of Carolan’s, and enjoyed it as I had been doing
up to now. When I went for a sip of the Bailey’s though, the nose leaps out at
you… it’s just so creamy… like good
ice cream. And the flavour… is just superb, not a note out of place. Carolan’s
is nice, in fact Mrs Cake said she prefers Carolan’s for its unique flavour,
but for me, while I enjoy the Carolan’s, moving back to the Baileys makes me exclaim – out loud, things like ‘it’s like chocolate truffles!’. It
achieves the ultimate accolade – a drink that is worth savouring every drop so
for me, at this point it is still the king.

When it comes to
coffee, I already stated in an earlier post that Carolan’s doesn’t go too well.
There’s just something a bit weird about it. None of that with Baileys… in fact
no other Irish Cream has failed to excel with coffee so far, so that has to be
a mark against Carolan’s.

Well, we know now
who is the Irish Cream champion among the higher priced category, but we need
to know who is really the king though.
I had to get a Ballycastle Premium in, didn’t I? Oh yes. So I did.

It has featured on
this blog before, but just as a reminder, Ballycastle Premium is the premium
expression of Aldi’s flagship own brand. For ABV it matches Baileys with 17%
and my latest bottle cost £6.49 – that’s an increase of 50p on last time,
though it still represents great value.

There’s no need to
go too deeply into this one, so let’s cut to the chase; is it as good as
Bailey’s? Well, not quite, but it’s very close. Mrs Cake reckons she prefers
the normal Ballycastle to both, but for me the Bailey’s is just slightly more
luxurious, slightly better balanced, more creamy, less milky but… you have to
remember that pricetag. If you can pick up a Bailey’s consistently for £9 I’d
recommend that you do but if you can’t… or if the pounds are a little hard to
come by one month… Ballycastle Premium makes an able deputy.

I think… it’s time
to start heading out into all the different supermarkets and seeing what
alternative brands they have. Keep an eye out for further updates.

That's me for this week. The post is a bit early as I'm going to the Bearded Theory festival tomorrow to stand about in the rain and drink 24 cans of Holsten Pils along with whatever spirits I can handle and hopefully a liberal quantity of Thornbridge Ales. Then next week I'll be in the depths of despair once more. Join me once the horrors have subsided for another post. And enjoy yer bank holiday.

5 comments:

Thank you for taking the time to post a review of the Baileys versus Carolans. For some reason, here in the U.S., Baileys is exponentially more expensive than Carolans - especially around the Holidays (probably just a supply and demand thing) but I must say, since I read your post after the fact; I am really glad that I went with the Carolans over the Baileys because I just paid almost 50% less (Baileys $39.99 1.75 LTR, Carolans $23.99 1.75 LTR) and seeing that it will be enjoyed by my wife and guests who don't know the difference, well in America we call that a... 'Win, win" - - Cheers!

Definitions

What happens when you zone out after having had a cheeky lunchtime pint.

Alcothusiast:

Not an alcoholic, someone who appreciates booze.

Anxiety, The:

The uneasy feeling that accompanies any noteworthy hangover.

Booze Buffet Mentality:

The propensity people have to go nuts whenever there's a free bar.

Booze Porn:Photos of alcohol.

Bread Chest:Not booze related, but this term describes the indigestion you get from eating too many bread products too quickly. Just putting it out there...

Crawler's Block:The inability to decide where to go next during a pub crawl - often resulting in crawl stagnation and someone saying, "shall we just have another one here?"

Crawl Stagnation:The result of failing to plan a pub crawl sufficiently - lack of a route, theme or over-familiarity with nearby pubs can all be contributing factors.

Excess Induced Alcohol Aversion:An intolerance for a drink caused (usually) by one occasion of overindulgence.

The Family:My whisky collection.

MOMA:

Moment of Maximum Appreciation. Every bottle has one. It's the time you drink it where you enjoy it most.

Old Man Pub:Traditional British pub, renowned for being quiet, cosy and frequented by old men. Much favoured by people who like a nice chat while they drink.Psychological Drinks Cabinet:Collective term relating to the kinds of alcoholic drinks a person has need for.Road Beers:

Cans of beer that you take with you when you go out, to consume on the way.

The 3 Types of Rum:White, gold and dark. Together they form the base of many a great cocktail.

About Me

Neil Cake is interested in all types of booze, but is by no means an authority or expert. Most of the time he's just trying to be funny, but he is learning, and enjoys sharing his adventures and what he learns on the Drink it How You Like it blog.
Thengyuverrymuuuuuch.